Paxton
Paxton & The Diesels is a spin-off of the series Thomas & Friends. The show has ran for four seasons airing in 2018 and has spawned three specials. The show revolves around the lives of Paxton and the other diesels at the Vicarstown Dieselworks, as they go on exciting adventures and have fun on the way. Production * Show name: Paxton and the Diesels * Also known as: Paxton and Friends * Genre: Model animated series * Created by: Andrew Brenner * Based on: Thomas & Friends, created by Britt Allcroft and The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry * Written by: Andrew Brenner * Directed by: Dianna Basso * Voices of: Steven Kynman, Kerry Shale, Bob Golding, Keith Wickham, Matt Wilkinson and other voices * Composer(s): Mike O'Donnell, Junior Campbell, Robert Hartshorne, Peter Hartshorne, Ed Welch, Philip Pope * Additional Composer(s): Lester Barnes, Mike Clowes * Country of origin: United Kingdom * No. of seasons: 4 * No. of episodes: 50 * No. of specials: 3 * Producer(s): Tracy Blagdon, Micaela Winter * Production location(s): Shepperton Studios * Running time: 10 minutes (Season 1), 15 minutes (Seasons 2-4, specials) * Production company: Mattel Creations * Original network: (UK) Channel 5 (Milkshake!), Cartoonito, (US) Nick Jr. * Original release: February - September 2018 About Paxton & The Diesels is a spin-off of the well known series Thomas & Friends; the main show being based off the Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry. Set at the Vicarstown Dieselworks, Paxton, Diesel, Dennis, Norman, Sidney, Den, Dart and Diesel 10, also known as the Diesel Gang, have fun and go on lots of crazy and fun adventures. Other friends along the way include Happy Hook, a friendly crane, Larry, a bright red lorry, Tyler, a blue and yellow mobile crane, and Old Bakewell, an old delivery van who came to work at the Dieselworks after being abandoned. Other familiar friends are there to join in, including Salty, the dockside diesel, and D199, a diesel who lives on The Mainland, even Thomas sometimes joins in from time to time too. Format The show's episodes follow a general plot, including some humorous elements. At the start of each episode, Paxton greets the viewers and welcomes them to the Dieselworks and introduces them to his friends. One of the main plot elements in the show include Paxton and the gang talking about many different things in the world around them, such as steam engines and diesel engines. Sometimes, one of the characters may often have problems and the diesels come up with different ideas to solve them. Throughout the episodes, some songs are sung by the gang that relate to the problems. At the end of some episodes, Happy Hook gives out a tip to the viewers about that episode's subject and the problem that was solved. Then, Paxton and the gang sing an ending song, say goodbye to the viewers and the end credits roll. The ending song from the first to the third seasons was the Not So Long Song. From the fourth season, a song called Paxton Is Our Friend is sung, which is sung to the tune of the Engine Roll Call song from Thomas & Friends. History There have been a couple of predecessors of the show before it started airing in 2018. The first ever Paxton series aired in 2013 and was titled The Adventures of Paxton and Friends, with the Dieselworks set looking different. That series also included an attempted spin-off called Story Time with Paxton, with Paxton reading out stories from the Railway Stories. Only one episode of that spin-off was made. Another series of The Adventures of Paxton and Friends was made in 2014 with a change to the Dieselworks set. The history of Paxton and the Diesels itself can probably go back to 2015 when it was announced that a new Paxton series would be made in 2016. However, a pilot was made in 2015 called Paxton at the Seaside, but instead of using Take-n-Play models for the characters, it was made using clay animation, with that sort of animation probably being used in the full series. There were no updates about the new Paxton series in 2016, when it was intended to be released and neither were there any updates in 2017, so it was cancelled for good. In 2018, it was announced that the new Paxton series would air that year and it would be titled Paxton and the Diesels. It first aired in February that year and once again, it used Take-n-Play models for the engines, and stop-motion animation for the human characters, like in the model era in Thomas & Friends. Characters This is a list of characters who have appeared throughout the series. Engine and vehicle characters * Paxton - Paxton is a kind and gentle diesel engine. He is young, good-hearted, well meaning, and sometimes a bit gullible. He is based on a British Rail Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. * Diesel - Diesel is devious by name, Devious by nature. He often plays lots of pranks with other engines. He is also based on a British Rail Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. * Sidney - a forgetful diesel. He always starts his day at one place and ends up at another, not remembering how he got there. When Sidney arrived on Sodor, he had no wheels, so he had to come to the Dieselworks and be repaired on the hoist. It took him two years to wait. Then Sidney got his new wheels at Christmas and he's now a really useful engine again. Like Paxton and Diesel, he is also based on a British Rail Class 08 diesel-electric shunter. * Den - a big diesel who runs the Dieselworks and helps with repairing other diesels. He is based on a Rolls-Royce Class 4DH Sentinel 0-4-0 diesel-hydraulic locomotive. *Dart - a small diesel who assists Den in running the Dieselworks. He is based on the W.G. Bagnall diesel locomotive No. 3207 Leys. * Norman - an orange-red diesel who is Dennis' brother. He is based on the British Rail No. 11001 prototype diesel locomotive. * Dennis - a lazy diesel who doesn't care on what he's doing. Like Norman, he is also based on the British Rail No. 11001 locomotive. * Diesel 10 - the head of the Diesels and the most devious of all. He is based on a British Rail Class 42 Warship. * Happy Hook - Happy Hook is a crane at the Dieselworks. He helps out with repairing the Diesels, but is always watching over them to see what is going on. * Tyler - a blue mobile crane who's always busy going around the yard picking up bits and pieces. * Larry - a bright red lorry. He makes deliveries from different parts of the island, and is proud of being bright red. * Old Bakewell - an old delivery van who came to work at the Dieselworks after being abandoned for many years. * Lawrence - A white lorry who lives on the Mainland and often comes to help with extra deliveries. * Bobby - a diesel engine who the gang met when they were on the Mainland in The Great Adventure. He is based on a British Rail Class 55 Deltic. Human characters * The Manager - He is in charge of the Dieselworks. He's always making sure that everything runs smoothly. * The General Manager - He also makes sure that everything runs smoothly, and helps the Manager. * The Inspector - an inspector who works at the Dieselworks. * PC Pullman - A policeman who is only seen in Season 1. * The Mayor of Vicarstown - The mayor is in charge of Vicarstown and the whole island, and is a good friend to the Diesels. * The Diesel Day Announcer - An unnamed announcer who announces the events on Diesel Day. * The Repair Man - An unnamed man who works for a company called Mix & Match Parts. He came to the Dieselworks in the third season episode The Old Trolley, where he delivered parts for repairing the trolley. * Giovanni Spaghetti - A famous Italian chef who comes to visit the Dieselworks in the fourth season episode The Famous Visitor. Mentioned/unseen characters * The Mayor of Barrow-in-Furness - An unseen character. Mentioned in the third season episode Wibble Wobble, and is said that the Mayor of Vicarstown has meetings with him. * The Abandoned Engine - Mentioned by Paxton in the fourth season episode For True Life. Like the Mayor of Barrow-in-Furness, it is unseen, and is mentioned in a story that Paxton told. * Diesel's Ghost Engine - An engine made up by Diesel that is mentioned in the fourth season episode For True Life. * Paxtina - A diesel engine who is Paxton's sister. She was mentioned by Paxton in the Season 1 episode Family. * Paxtona - Paxton's brother He was mentioned by Paxton in the Season 1 episode Family. * Baxton - Paxton's cousin. He was mentioned by Paxton in the Season 1 episode Family. * Jaxton - Paxton's brother-in-law. He was mentioned by Paxton in the Season 1 episode Family. * Parkson - Paxton's uncle. He was mentioned by Paxton in the Season 1 episode Family. Guest characters from Thomas & Friends and the Railway Series * Thomas * Edward * Henry * Gordon * Percy * Toby * Donald and Douglas * Timothy * Rosie * Billy * Charlie * Stanley * Hiro * Spencer * Stephen * Gator * Shane * Ivan * Ashima * Stepney * Harvey * Murdoch * Molly * Luke * Elizabeth * Salty * D199 * Belle * Porter * Captain * Kevin * Mr. Percival * Bash and Dash * Ferdinand * Lady * Whiff * Arthur * Philip * 'Arry and Bert Cast * Steven Kynman as Paxton, Dart, Dennis and The Inspector (Season 4 only) (UK/US) * Kerry Shale as Diesel, Tyler and PC Pullman (Season 1 only) (UK/US) * Bob Golding as Sidney (UK/US) * Keith Wickham as Den, Norman, Old Bakewell, The Manager, The General Manager, The Inspector (Season 2 and Season 3 only), The Diesel Day Announcer, The Repair Man and Giovanni Spaghetti (UK/US) * Matt Wilkinson as Diesel 10, Happy Hook, Larry, Lawrence, Bobby and Tyler (only in the Season 1 episode ''Emergencies) (UK/US) * David Bedella as The Mayor of Vicarstown (UK/US) Seasons * Season 1 * Season 2 * Season 3 * Season 4 Specials * Diesel Day * The Great Adventure * The Greatest Moments Episodes For list of episodes, see List of Paxton & The Diesels episodes. Merchandise The first, second, third and fourth seasons have been released on DVD: * Paxton & The Diesels - The Complete Season 1 * Paxton & The Diesels - The Complete Season 2 * Paxton & The Diesels - The Complete Season 3 * Paxton & The Diesels - The Complete Season 4 In addition to the normal Thomas & Friends line of toys, Paxton and the Diesels has also created its own line, including its own versions of the Adventures, TrackMaster, TrackMaster Push Along, Plarail and Wood toys, as well as other items like books, a board game and jigsaw puzzles. Broadcast The show is broadcast in 17 countries around the world. This list shows the channels that the show is broadcast on, and their respective country. * UK - Channel 5 (Milkshake), Cartoonito * US - Nick Jr. * Canada - TVOntario, Family Jr., Knowledge Kids * Australia - ABC Kids * New Zealand - Four * Arab World - MBC3, Spacetoon, e-Junior * Brazil - Discovery Kids * Czech Republic - Minimax * Finland - C More * Hungary - JimJam * Israel - Hop! * Italy - Cartoonito * Japan - Cartoon Network * Mexico - Canal 5 * Norway - TV2 Junior * Romania - Minimax * Serbia - Minimax Trivia * The show is filmed at Shepperton Studios in West London. The second to twelfth series of Thomas & Friends was filmed there before the full CGI switchover in 2009. the show's sister show TUGS was also filmed there. * Like the first to the twelfth seasons of Thomas & Friends, the show is made using models, particularly Take-n-Play and Adventures models. * The Dieselworks is the only location to appear in every season and special of the series, except for The Great Adventure. * There are 50 episodes in the entire series, the 15th being in the first season, the 20th and 30th being in the second season, the 40th episode being in the third season and the 50th being in the fourth season. See also * List of Thomas & Friends spin-offs